Women Born In The 1970s

"Running means a lot to me. It was my passion since I was young and growing up, it has changed my life and my status"

"When I'm putting on my sports shoes, I feel something nice"

"I knew all the athletes were very strong, It was hard. You're stepping there as a mum, running with still-young athletes but your daughter is watching you at home. You just think many things."

"I'm proud to be a mum, to be a woman being a woman. I'm proud of my child. Stretch marks are something that come and you can't hide [them]. Just be proud, just be who you are."

"I dedicated the medal to her, And when I landed in Eldoret, she welcomed me, held the medal and said 'This is my medal' - it was something special."

"To bring the gold medal as a mum will also inspire my daughter. It was really something special for me defending my title."

"The ease of the bird is dependent on the ease of the branch it nests on. I find a world that limits any form of the ‘other’ abhorrent. We are all one and connected in the continuum of life. I am able to acutely feel the pain of others and discomfort at injustice, violence or pain in much the same way I can feel their joy and contentment."

"I respect the times that we are living in now because there is a lot of necessary conversation about what is wrong. However, a lot of the talks can be very divisive. It is also essential to face the essentials, so do it. And sometimes I see many people talking and unaware of what needs to happen and how they can do it."

"Seeing a whole generation of people in media, technology, fashion, development, among others, gives me immense hope."

"When I started my career, I was very young; I was in my twenties, and I had no idea of the future. New Dawn, which everybody came to love so much when I was doing it, I did not know what I was doing; I was only doing my thing."

"My relationship with men is very interesting. I don’t worship men because I grew up with them. I don’t want any man to carry me as a burden on his head. I want to work with him, I am interested in him as a person. If I am with you, I am with you for who you are and not what you can do for me. If you can do so, that’s nice. But it doesn’t bother me because if I don’t do it somebody else will do it. There is no scarcity in the universe. The world is full of abundance. That’s why I don’t worry and cannot worship any man."

"Every day, people fall below the poverty line. When you have issues, no one can defend you because the people who should protect you are the ones abusing you. So what do you have to be happy about?"

"There is so much anger - suppressed anger; transferred anger; violence as a part of our culture; narcissism as a part of our culture; poor interpersonal relationships; unhealthy, manipulative, controlling family dynamics."

"Are we really the happiest people on earth, or are we happy because we choose to deny our problems rather than confront them or face them?"

"No one can defend you because the people who should protect you are the ones abusing you. What do Nigerians have to be happy about?"

"[From MacNamara's written evidence] In terms of the policy response the exclusion of a female perspective led to significant negative consequences, including the lack of thought given to childcare in the context of school closures. There was a serious lack of thinking about domestic abuse and the vulnerable, about carers and informal networks for how people look after each other in families and communities."

"I do not remember anyone working in the centre or who was part of the conversations who had a detailed understanding of the way the NHS operated. This is not unusual or unique to that time. Social policy and the "operational" management of the state is always under-represented in the centre of power whereas HM Treasury, foreign policy and national security are over-represented in line with what is normally the focus for a Prime Minister."

"[MacNamara provided a Karaoke machine for a lockdown-defying gathering for someone who was leaving No. 10 Downing Street] My profound regret is for the damage that’s been caused to so many people because of it, as well as just the mortifying experience of seeing what that looks like and how rightly offended everybody is in retrospect. [...] I absolutely knew and thought it was actually important for there to be space for - particularly the private office - to be able to gather together and spend time together. That was entirely because of the kind of culture that they were working in and entirely because I was really worried about individuals breaking and suffering, and whether they were going to be okay, and how important their colleagues were to each other. I'm saying none of that in excuse of my own misjudgment. I'm saying none of that in excuse of thinking any of these things were okay. But it was a much more complex situation than has allowed to be presented for lots of different reasons."

"[Referring to the Cabinet Office and No. 10 Downing Street] I would find it hard to pick one day when the regulations were followed properly inside that building. [...] I know that because ... there was one meeting where we absolutely adhered to the guidance, to the letter, and that was the cabinet meeting, and everybody moaned about it and tried to change it repeatedly. So I know how exceptional it was to really, really, really properly follow the guidance."

"[Boris Johnson's "breezy confidence" about COVID in March 2020] It was the day on which there was a question about whether the Prime Minister should shake hands with people on a visit to the hospital and there was a jokey discussion about alternative greetings to handshakes. The Prime Minister felt - not unreasonably - that it was a bit ridiculous for him to suggest alternative greetings. But the jovial tone, the view that in implementing containment measures and suspending work and schooling, the Italians were overreacting, and the breezy confidence that we would do better than others had jarred with me. I remember saying that I thought that all people wanted to know was what was the right thing to do - and that was not clear."

"[From MacNamara's written statement about a meeting in the prime minister's study on on Friday, 13 March 2020] I have just been talking to the official Mark Sweeney, who is in charge of coordinating with the Department for Health. He said I have been told for years that there is a whole plan for this. There is no plan. We are in huge trouble. I have come through here to the Prime Minister’s office to tell you all that I think we are absolutely f-----. I think this country is heading for a disaster. I think we are going to kill thousands of people. As soon as I have been told this, I have come through to see you. It seems from the conversation you are having that that is correct."

"[On the mass closure of children's playgrounds during the pandemic lockdowns] It was a decision taken by people who have no real life experience of what it's like to be stuck at home with a toddler."

"If I think about working for [[Theresa May|[Theresa] May]], I don't think there's any world in which we could have got from January to May [2020] and had this sort of culture, because it just wasn't there in the DNA of the organisation at that time."

"[At the start of 2020] [T]he Cabinet Office in Whitehall had developed some unhealthy habits in terms of ways of working and it was a low trust environment in terms of relationships between the civil service and the prime minister and his political team."

"[From MacNamara's written evidence] For example, the long-term impact of a generation of young people being deprived of schooling and peer-group contact for an extended period of time were hard to bring in as a balancing argument because the harm was not immediately quantifiable, or amenable to being reduced into a data set and presented in a diagram. Similarly, less visible impacts suffer in this format. I remember it being far too difficult to get people to pay attention to domestic violence and lockdown - and the No 10 Private Secretary (Hannah Young) having to push back against the assertion that it was not an urgent problem because it was “not showing up in the data"."

"I think every reformation or transformation project is a change project, isn't it? When you are managing change, the levels of challenges are varied, but I think the most important aspect of change which can become a challenge that needs to be managed upfront is that ultimately change affects people and we need to take people on a journey with us so that we embrace the fact that we change together."

"Empowering young people through STEM is one of the surest ways to guarantee a better future for them, our country and continent. STEM inspires curiosity in young people and empowers them to be problem solvers and innovators. These skill sets are critical for success in any profession."

"I see football and sport in general but particularly today football as an extremely important part of our development as individuals and our development as a nation. Sport is about development, it is about skill, it is about commitment, it is about dedication, it is about the tenacity to win against the odds, it is about the willingness to say that I will go the extra mile, even though at this point in time, I am exhausted, I am tired, my muscles are aching and I have a team counting on me and more importantly in their case I have a nation counting on me."

"I dedicate this (award) to every African child who dares to dream. Dream big, discern the voices that are for you, stay focused and enjoy the journey. The award is a testimony that the dream of every child in Africa is achievable."

"We need to support, empower and encourage more women and girls into the field (technology). I have seen and met with some of the amazing young women in Tech and I am very confident the great work they are doing will inspire even more young women and girls into the field."

"For a long time, we (society) have given the tech industry an image women do not wish to be part of. Technology has been given a masculine face and attitude. First everyone expects males to be dominant in this field, then when a woman turns up, she is still expected to be masculine."

"Instead of waiting to be given the opportunity to be relevant, women need to assert and claim their place in the Tech industry by equipping themselves with knowledge about the industry, being exceptionally great at what they do and even greater when it comes to soft skills such as communications and human relations."

"Despite what you may read, our world is not progressing quickly enough on critical issues of economic equity, environmental protection and the assurance of peace. It's as though, for all our smarts, we cannot accept each other as worthy of the basics of human lives around the globe; the excess of a few sometimes comes at the expense of many."

"Success doesn't just happen. It is as a result of years of learning and training."

"I am ... proud of the fact that over the years, I have been able to demonstrate to Ghana and the world that leadership is not a function of gender. I believe that black women, African women, are able to lead big businesses."

"It's more a case of giving it less thought...last time I really missed racing and I know I'm going to feel just the same when the baby's born. I came back (in 2007) and I'm not saying I started back running too soon 12 days after the birth but rather the scale at which I ramped it up. I had gone through a difficult labour and I didn't give my body enough time to recover."

"Some of the jobs we have today will be eroded, sometimes by technology but mostly by someone else who has found a more efficient way of doing and delivering it over the internet. Globally, people are paying attention to trends including skillsets required for jobs in Africa in the next decade. You cannot afford to be left out of this conversation. As young people, you need to position yourselves to take advantage of the current and future opportunities by staying relevant and informed."

"You live in a connected world where your competition is not the guy sitting next to you, for you the human factor or your competition could be someone sitting in Canada, the UK or Australia. The human factor is bridged and access to a job is no longer dependent on location. Increasingly you will find people who are able to do your job remotely. That is a real fact and challenge which means over time your career will face competitive pressure that is not local."

"All of life comes together to form who we are but sometimes, it's significant events that have a bigger impact than the normal day-to-day brand and I think coming to Ghana, the biggest thing that set me off was the fact that Ghana had that famine in 1983."

"My values of authenticity and originality align with Vlisco’s brand personality. It is an honour to join the league of Dr Mrs Ellen Hagan; Eugenia Tachie-Menson; Elizabeth Akua-Nyarko Patterson; Regina Honu; Edith Uyovbukerhi and Yawa Hansen-Quao, who I am taking over from as Brand Ambassador. It is exciting to be recognised for the work we do and what we stand for as women. I look forward to shaping the future of this nation with my experience under the umbrella of the Vlisco brand."

"Young people are demonstrating their creativity, leadership, and desire to lead the change that our continent (Africa) desperately needs. They want an opportunity to come together in a way that allows them to think, share and co-create solutions to the problems such as youth unemployment, building scalable enterprises and driving systemic change in their countries."

"Lucy is acclaimed for her selfless drive to mentor the next generation of leaders to create sustainable outcomes. Her commitment and devotion to mentoring young people on several platforms can be seen in her very successful launch of Evolve with STEM - an initiative to transform mindsets and inspire young people to embrace Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics."

"Lucy is a trailblazer, a woman in leadership; fashionable and inspiring. She represents a queen, a change maker, a leader who inspire and she is our Ambassador who will help project the diversity and equality messages."

"Instead of waiting to be given the opportunity to be relevant, women need to assert and claim their place in the Tech industry.” on empowerment and gender inclusion in technology"

"“even in leadership positions, many women are still treated as less-worthy peers. They are expected to be grateful for their inclusion, as though they did not work even harder than their male counterparts to get there. They are spoken to as subordinates by less qualified colleagues. Their ideas are discredited until those same ideas are articulated by a male colleague and then, suddenly, they are seen as the best ideas.”"

"Whatever you do, whatever the situation, continue trying something new, new ideas, location, opportunities; but whatever it is, please try. If it works, you learn from it. Life is full of taking risks, learning and making progress."

"Today, football has become an extremely important part of our development as individuals and our development as a nation (Ghana). Sports is about development, it is about skill, it is about commitment, it is about dedication, it is about the tenacity to win against the odds, it is about the willingness to say that I will go the extra mile. There is so much more to it and we collectively should leverage football to drive our country (Ghana) forward because it is one of the few things that we all agree on."

"We cannot afford to being happy to get by! We need to collectively step up and create our future. We can't keep blaming 'leaders'! We are all in."

"ICT and telecoms bring lots of convenience to people. It powers dreams and shapes aspirations. It connects family, friends and colleagues to collectively deliver extraordinary outcomes. For those who know me well in the industry, they will tell you that mt resolve is to better the lives of women, children and the less-privileged in society through Technology. I look forward to the day when together, we will make Ghana the technology hub of Africa for talents and breakthrough innovations that will transform the continent."

"I strongly believe that every individual possesses untapped potential, and by helping them realise their full potential, communities, industries, countries, and the continent can make sustainable economic progress that creates true prosperity."